Terrain

Terrain is a massive factor in any game. I don't think players realize just had much terrain can't screw them over. A lot of people play terrain as simple as they can make it. area terrain everywhere. lets slap a hill in the middle, some buildings in the quarters and maybe a fence or two to break up open areas.  4+ cover saves and 5+ cover saves, difficult terrain. simple right!

Well no. Terrain is good but you need to have lots of it and have different kinds of terrain. Impassible, dangerous and mysterious are all needed to keep the game playing properly. having all these variable terrain types really mess with math hammer players. O you took 120 ork Boyz so you can control the whole board, spread out to deny templates and have lootas in the rear to gun down light armour? that'd be hard to do with a bunch of giant rocks all over the board you can't walk on or see through, bet you wish you had brought stormboyz or kommandos to open up another avenue of attack now!\

Obviously this is an extreme example. 

 The problem of people ignoring terrain is even more evident in fantasy. With no way to block routes of march or to force units to reform massive hordes just walk right into combat. without things to block cannons or slow down unit the game devolves into a scrum in the middle.

Good thing we found this convent wide open field! I thought we might have maneuver or something! 

My point is Table tops should be different every game and should be made so sometimes you are at a disadvantage. counting on being able to shoot every turn, spread out to cover the board or always get a cover save is kind of ridiculous. I know it's a problem for tournaments to get enough terrain. But I really think you need to try. Lots of places put out nice pre-fab pieces and I will pay extra for more terrain.

Drop pod After action report

I've played 10 games with my Drop Pod marines now. I think I have enough experience to objectively look at the army. The army is simple to use. You drop pod as close as possible and kill what ever needs killing. Drop pod lists work a lot better in 6th edition. In 5th people would just Reserve everything and your drop pod assault would be wasted. Not a lot of armies can start entirely in reserve now so there is more than likely going to be a target.

Where I think the problem with Drop pod lists arises is in the survival of the pod after they hit the ground. In most cases you're exposed and are in range of the enemy guns and assault units. In 10 games I never achieved an uncontested drop. I always will take casualties and will always be on the back foot after turn 1. So how do I make my Drop pods more survivable?

I'm going to try to change the list to get more bodies podded in. I think with 5 pods I'd have a lot more punch on the first turn but the points cost is insane! I can't fit in any reliable AA or assault units in at that point at 1500 points. It may be a case that the army is simply to points heavy to run at 1500 points.

I'm going to run a game tomorrow night (hopefully) and see if how well I do with a heavy focus on short range fire fights.

Winter War Round up

Well The Winter War has come and gone and it was a bloody good time! I had three great games with awesome guys.

My list consisted of:

Pedro

Drop-pod Sternguard with 3 Combi-meltas and a Melta gun- 10 man

Drop-pod Sternguard with 3 Combi-meltas and a Melta gun- 10 man

Drop-pod Dev Squad with 3 meltas and a Missile Launcher

5 man scouts sniper rifles

5 man scout camo cloaks, missile launcher sniper rifles

5 man Thunder-hammer Storm shield Terminators.

Storm Talon with cyclon missile launcher

My first Game was against a Grey Knight Player. 2 purifier squads, a land raider, 2 storm ravens and Crowe. I had first turn and it was brutal. My Sternguard broke open his landraider and killed 16 purifiers. He assualted a combat squad in his turn and killed it, but the 4 purifiers got gunned down. during the top of turn one. His storm ravens came on and tried to salvage the game but at this point I was able to spread out and secure all the objectives. My storm talon shot one Raven down, Crowe was inside and survived the crash only to land right in front of my terminators who laid a smack down on him.
My first game was very successful, but this isn't a mark against my oppenant. His army was simply suseptable to drop pod assaults. Maybe if he had combat squaded and spread out, but it's hard to say. 

My second game brought me up against A Tzeentch Daemon list. I knew this would be a make or break game on turn 1 and fortune was on my side. He didn't get his preferred wave, his mishap'd one squad and I didn't loose a whole unit to flamers, I got good scatters on my pods and was in a position to win the entire game then an there. But my dice went south on me. I had to kill 4 flamers, 10 pink horrors and a Lord of Change. I had over 40 shots to do this with. I know the Math wasn't in my favour and it was a long shot but if a storm bolter brought the lord down to the ground rapid firing hellfire bolters could deal enough damage. 
My dice of course failed me at this point. I did no wounds and my terminators were over watched to death. c'est la vie. The rest of the game really doesn't matter. My opponent played a great game and had a hard as nails list. I maxed his sportsmanship because despite the ass kicking I received it was a fun game. 

My last game was against a Necorn foot list. I planned to deep strike on one flank and roll up his line But i deep struck too close my terminators were to far back to properly support the Sternguard. I was barely able to hold my objective( a morale victory at this point) and killed his warlord in a challenge. In all I ended up 13th overall. Not bad for my first tournament in a long time. 

 I really think Daemons need a fundamental change. A lot of people are talking about how you beat daemons: gems like deploy so they can't flame you, torrent them down and other really "useful' tips. The fact is Flamers and Screamers went from good to insane and it is annoying to play against. Out of all the units that could have been updated why pick two of the already useful ones? When you play against daemons they always have the "initiative" and you're forced to react to them. I know the list isn't unbeatable, but it sure as hell isn't fun to play against. Breathe of Chaos is disproportionately powerful to anything else in the game right now, I mean in the CSM book it's a 2 warp charge power or 50 points for the chance to cast it once. But I had a good tournament and am now thinking about my Nightlords and Out of the Basement in January.